Oct 5, 2011 The Milky Way is connected to the rest of the Universe. According to a recent press release, astronomers have found “…evidence for the cosmic thread that connects us to the vast expanse of the Universe.” By examining the positions of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters around…
Oct 04, 2011 What drives star formation in various nebulae? Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum compiled an extensive catalog of nebulae before his death in 1960. A Study of Diffuse Southern H-alpha Nebulae comprises 85 images that reveal intense activity within a variety of objects and structures embedded in…
Oct 03, 2011 Is there, or has there ever been, life on the Red Planet? A new mission will try to find out. On a morning between November 25 and December 18, 2011 NASA will launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), otherwise known as “Curiosity.” The new rover owes…
Sep 30, 2011 A new mission to map the gravity field of the Moon. On September 10, 2011 NASA launched the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) satellites on a mission to the Moon. GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B are nearly identical spacecraft, except that B is designed to follow A around…
Sep 29, 2011 Are there dark matter galaxies orbiting the Milky Way? Sometimes, clues can be hidden in plain site. The key to solving a particular puzzle might simply be clouded by a layer of presumptions that obscure its true import. Such appears to be the case according a recent…
Sep 28, 2011 A recent close encounter with Titan uncovered more surface anomalies on the haze-shrouded moon. On October 15, 1997 NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft atop a Titan IV-Centaur rocket. The six ton payload was the largest deep space mission ever deployed, requiring a seven year journey to…
Sep 27, 2011 Do so-called “accretion disks” around presumptive black holes generate gamma-rays? “Now it is quite clear to me that there are no solid spheres in the heavens, and those that have been devised by the authors to save the appearances, exist only in the imagination.” — Tycho Brahe…
Sep 26, 2011 Comet Elenin, despite fear mongers and media hype, has vanished. Leonid Elenin discovered C/2010 X1 (subsequently named after him) on December 10, 2010. The comet reached perihelion on September 11, 2011 but does not seem to have survived its encounter with the Sun’s electromagnetic fields. Since the…
M101 (NGC 5457), the Pinwheel Galaxy. Image credit: Donald E. Scott Sep 23, 2011 A new supernova explosion highlights the same old gravity problems. On August 24, 2011 astronomers from the Palomar Transient Factory discovered the first type 1A supernova seen in decades. Type 1A class stellar explosions (or, implosions)…
Sep 22, 2011 Some stars are said to be surrounded by haloes of hot water mixed with carbon dust. According to a recent European Space Agency (ESA) press release, the Herschel infrared space observatory discovered a cloud of hot water surrounding a giant star in constellation Leo known as…
